Pittsburgh makes National Geographic’s ‘Best in World 2012' list

Pittsburgh makes National Geographic’s ‘Best in World 2012' list

Making travel plans for 2012 but don’t want to break the bank flying to Thailand or Iceland? According to National Geographic’s Traveler magazine, you don’t have to go any farther than the Allegheny Mountains to see one of the top twenty destinations in the world: Pittsburgh.

Have you stopped laughing yet? Lest you think this is even more of a joke than holding the G20 in the city of three rivers (a stroke of genius by organizers wanting to avoid massive protests considering those unfamiliar with the city and not in possession of a GPS device could easily wind up in West Virginia or Ohio), here’s the take of Amy Alipio, associate editor of the magazine:

"We polled our contributing editors and writers and got dozens and dozens of suggestions," she said.

"One of them nominated Pittsburgh. It was kind of a dark horse choice, but from asking around, other writers reinforced it would make a good addition to our list, especially with the new Batman movie ["The Dark Knight Rises"] coming out next year. We thought it would generate the most discussion. Pittsburgh has a lot of fans and detractors. A lot of people will be writing in pro and con, I'm sure."

Yinzers will be celebrating in the company of Sonoma, California, the only other U.S. destination to make the list, and international spots such as Sri Lanka, Mongolia, London, and the Africa’s Virunga volcanoes.

Full story at National Geographic via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.